Part 1When Celestial Blood Spills

A thousand years ago, A thousand years ago, the Kirin—scaled guardians with antlers that channeled celestial magic—sacrificed countless of their most powerful mages to help the Archon imprison the Demon Lord in the Dark Abyss.

A thousand years later, the Demon Princess idly remarked, "I hear the brain of a Kirin can cure my migraines."

And in a single night, my people were slaughtered to the last.

I stared at the ruins of my home for a long time. "Mother," I whispered to the ashes, "you always told me the world was at peace, that the Archon was benevolent. You said my own heaven-defying power was a curse upon this realm and you suppressed it for my own good. Well, what about now? Do you still believe that?"

* * *

The day before my clan was butchered, my little brother, still too young to take his human form, chirped and chattered, begging me to go to the mortal plane and buy him a candy apple.

He was getting on my nerves. I was about to kick him away when my mother stopped me with a gentle smile. "Hera," she said, "that's your brother."

"He is the one person in all the realms who is closest to you. You can't treat him like some wild beast."

Closest to me?

Born with dulled senses, I didn't understand the meaning of her words. But I always listened to my mother.

I lowered my clawed paw and promised to bring him his candy apple the next day. He was so happy he rolled around on the ground in a fit of glee.

I watched him with disgust, muttering, "So noisy."

But the next morning, as soon as the sun rose, I rode the clouds down the mountain to buy his treat.